An unlikely collection of states have landed at the top of a new list by WalletHub of those most addicted to gambling.
South Dakota ranked second, beaten out only by Nevada, according to the personal finance website, which crunched numbers from 15 categories?number of land-based casinos, video lottery venues, racetrack casinos and tribal casinos, per capita lottery sales, the prevalence of illegal gambling, and the share of adults with gambling disorders?in reaching its determinations.
The sparsely populated state came in first in the nation in the number of casinos per 100,000 residents but sixth in problem gambling treatment.
A spokeswoman for the site noted that South Dakota is not affiliated with the National Council on Problem Gambling, casino employees don’t have training on disorders, and there’s no state provided gambling addiction program.
The state was WalletHub’s third most gambling addicted state last year.
That position went in 2016 to Montana, another unlikely candidate, followed by West Virginia, a more likely one. The Mountain State was cited 19th in the nation for most casinos per capita, eighth in gaming machines per capita, first in lottery sales per capita, and 11th in percentage of adults with gambling disorders.
Among other casino states, Ohio was ranked 10th most addicted, Maryland 14th and Pennsylvania 27th. Florida ranked a modest 41st.
Alabama had the best ranking in the survey, finishing 50th, better even than Utah, which has no legal gambling and came in at No. 48. Nebraska was 49th.
